Five Things: Taco Tuesday edition

Favorite Taco Tuesday Places*

America’s – This is my most recent and most frequent Taco Tuesday destination. Getting 2 burritos, 2 tacos and 6 Coronitas for $20-some is a decent deal. Enjoying these on the patio in our great “fall” weather is what really make this. Also, two of the last three time I’ve gone, I’ve run into someone I knew there, which is an event that always binds that place as part of the neighborhood in my mind.

Gallo Blanco – The beef at this place is amazing. Seriously, every bite is amazing. Once, after taking my boss there, he told me that he preferred America’s because he thought Gallo used “too much marinade”. I had to tell him that’s what real meat tastes like. I love the natural & local ingredients here, and the food reflects it. My only gripe is that they seem to always have a lot of staff on hand and yet I still have to wait a long time for help.

Verde – I don’t think I’ve met a more welcoming business owner than the guys at Verde. True story, a couple weeks ago I thought I’d imagined up a new great variation on one of their dishes. I peddled over to Verde and as I started to ask if they could make it, Matt & Joseph pointed to the menu and SURPRISE, it was already the special of the day. It’s like they were Taco Psychics. Seriously, go there, get the Green Chile Tacos. You’ll love it. If only they served beer, though….

Macayo’s – The old standby. Nothing spectacular here. Beers are cold, service feigns interest. Don’t get the burrito, ever. We had to put these guys on the do-not-eat list for about 6-months after a recent complaint.

El Portal – Greasy greasy, rarely a full step up from ‘berto’s. In fact, if it wasn’t in my neighborhood, I’d probably go to ‘berto’s instead.

* for purposes of this list, I’m describing places that you could visit on your lunch hour, and not reflective of a trip to these establishments where you don’t mind the time.

America’s Favorite Food Truck Giveaway

America’s Favorite Food Truck Giveaway.

Maybe I'm just hungry….

but this turtle bread looks like a good idea.

The Government wants you to be Obese

Some nifty graphs and a quote from TreeHugger:

To start off, here’s a great graph from Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine showing the Food Pyramid that we’re all familiar with, compared to the Federal Subsidies.  So here we have the Government telling us we need to eat healthier, while at the same time empowering a system that does not support their own public ideology.

So, is this a case of competing governmental agencies undermining each other?  Well, here’s another graph that’s pretty telling:

Cost of Foods

Now just looking at the trends, it’s clear that at some point in the 80’s Fruits & Vegetables started become more expensive than cookies, and soda is the cheapest of all.

So if you have X food budget, are you going to buy the healthy foods, or the cheaper, sweeter, tastier foods?

Clearly, self-control and responsibility play huge roles in what we do, but how hypocritical is it to subsidize the industries that clearly don’t need it?

I’m sure there’s a lot Michael Pollan could explain about why this trend is happening, but I’m sure there’s something each of us could do to make a personal change.  For myself, I’ve switched out normal snack food for whole almonds, and don’t really miss a thing.

Here’s what TreeHugger had to say about it:

In a classic case of contradictory government policy the above pyramids clearly show the inverse relationship between federal government agriculture subsidies and federal nutrition recommendations. Originally published in 2007 by Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) in Good Medicine Magazine to outline the committee’s concern about the impending farm bill. The graphic recently resurfaced in food security circles and found its way to the Economix Blog @ The New York Times.

The original PCRM article explains the regulatory discrepancy that results in an obese nation.

The Farm Bill…governs what children are fed in schools and what food assistance programs can distribute to recipients. The bill provides billions of dollars in subsidies, much of which goes to huge agribusinesses producing feed crops, such as corn and soy, which are then fed to animals. By funding these crops, the government supports the production of meat and dairy products–the same products that contribute to our growing rates of obesity and chronic disease. Fruit and vegetable farmers, on the other hand, receive less than 1 percent of government subsidies.The government also purchases surplus foods like cheese, milk, pork, and beef for distribution to food assistance programs–including school lunches. The government is not required to purchase nutritious foods.

Random Admission

Fact:  putting a face on a fruit of vegetable* makes it an instant character, and thus me chuckle.

Here’s a few examples I ran across today:

* Side-fact: putting a face on protein has the opposite affect.

I'd eat more seafood if Logan was a sushi chef

Thanks to @Twyst for sharing.

Round-Up spray in my food…. bleh

Anyone else watch Food, Inc and feeling pretty queasy about the way soybeans are grown?  I know I never ate tofu really, but the concept that health-minded people are (unknowingly) consuming things that have been sprayed with Round-Up (yes, that’s the same stuff you put on your weeds) is right up there with dipping your meat in bleach before you grill it.

Now I read this article on TreeHugger and just found out that cotton & corn crop are also predominately grown from genetically-modified seeds owned by Monsanto Corporation (makers of  Round-Up), on the scale of 90% of the nation’s total.

Mmmmm, nothing says Fourth of July like grilled corn that was repeatedly sprayed with herbicides….

But it gets better.  A December 2009 independent study showed that three different types of GMO-corn from Monsanto have proven to cause organ damage in mammals.  To quote the report:

The data “clearly underlines adverse impacts on kidneys and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, as well as different levels of damages to heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system,” reported Gilles-Eric Séralini, a molecular biologist at the University of Caen.

This study confirmed precisely the results of a different 2007 study.

Oh yeah, these GMO’s have already been approved for us to eat.

Yum

I just learned that I have a new follower who lists their occupation as “food researcher”.  At first I thought, “this sounds like a job that’s totally up my alley.  I love food and I love researching.  Whoa nelly, if they’d pay me to make a bar graph about pies and a pie graph about bars, I’d be in heaven!!”

Then I figured I’d temper my enthusiasm by thinking “if I became a food researcher I’d have to also become an exercise researcher.”

As I typed this up, though, I’m thinking I could deal with that as long as they let me wear a white lab coat all the time.

Thanks, @eatSlow, for the introspection.